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1997 Z3. Need a little help. For no apparent reason, my onboard computer quit working, no lights, zilch. And the gas gauge went to empty, and low fuel warning light came on, and the temp gauge quit working. I checked all the fuses related to instument lights and onboard computer and they all appear to be good. I pulled and replaced each fuse a couple times in case there is a bad connection, and no change. Anything else you know of that can make all these go on the fritz at the same time? I appreciate any help, because the only documentation I have is the owners manual. ands its basically worthless for this sort of thing.

Thanks guys for taking time to post possible solution. I haven't sliced into the wiring loom yet, but I was really surprised at the size and amount of wires. As far as I can tell, only the upper stop light and trunk illumination light is all that is in the trunk. But, I'll check into it. A short somewhere sounds logical.

OK, I have a new clue. I checked the wiring harness where it undergoes the most stress and maximum bend when the trunk is opened and closed and did not find any evidence of insulation deteriorization , fraying or broken wires. But I only peeled back about a half inch of the black plastic protective shroud. However, I did have the idea to check the upper stop light and shoot, it wasn't working , nor were the other two stop lights. So I have no brake lights whatsoever, and apparently the two side stop lights are not energized through this particular piece of wiring harness. Since I didn't know stop lights were not working, I did not check if they have a separate fuse. I'm gonna go check that now.

Just to give you an idea of just some of the issues caused by the trunk wires:

"Last week or so I posted regarding a fuse that kept blowing after the front bumper had been removed and replaced. The right front side marker and amber light next to the headlight were out as well. After a lot of head-scratching we found the problem. It was completely unrelated to the front bumper, just strange timing. There is a cluser of about 12 wires that comes from the trunk and goes into the trunk lid. It takes a sharp bend at a clip that holds it to the hinge. This was the problem. We opened up the sheath and found that two wires were broken apart and all the rest were showing copper and randomly shorting. Problem solved."